Fresh Milled Flour Homemade Sugar Cookie Recipe
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On a whim, I decided to work on converting my very favorite homemade sugar cookies recipe I have that’s scrawled on a stained notecard in someone’s chicken scratch that I don’t remember. So, here we are… Christmas Eve and Mama needs some cut-out cookies. RIGHT NOW. And I have to use fresh milled flour because I don’t have any dead flour and who would want cookies without that delicious, whole grain nutty flavor fresh milled flour provides…. certainly not this nut!
This is the perfect recipe for two reasons: 1. They don’t require pre-making and refrigeration and 2. they hold their shape pretty dang beautifully if I do say so myself without chilling the dough or doing anything special. And as the self-appointed president of the Worst Cookie Baker’s Club, I didn’t ruin them, so you can’t either.
Freshly Milled Flour
Yes, I now mill my own flour with my lovely mill that is linked in the recipe card section of this post. It’s amazing and comes with a high recommendation from me. It’s one of the few mills that doesn’t heat up the flour super hot as it mills and can handle popcorn, which I love! I’ve been using it for about 3 years now and have had zero issues or anything negative to say about it.
For cookies, you want to use soft wheat berries or an ancient grain, like einkorn, that’s lower in gluten. For this recipe, we’re going to use soft white wheat because it’s easiest way to convert, especially in a cookie recipe. Another grain I enjoy for cookies is einkorn, but for the sake of my sanity, I use soft white wheat because it’s a bit easier to figure out when switching a recipe to use whole grains instead of white flour. But, stay tuned for an einkorn version of this recipe in the future because it will be happening! I hope you’ll consider entering the lovely and deliciously satisfying world of fresh milled flour!
Equipment You Might Want:
- Grain Mill
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Cutters
- Cooling Racks
Ingredients:
- 1 cup salted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup raw unrefined sugar (or white sugar)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon elderflower extract
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/2 cups fresh milled soft white wheat (divided)
Let’s make some delicious cookies!
Step 1: Mill the Flour
Measure out 2 1/3 cup of soft white wheat berries and mill through a fine, pastry setting.
Place container of soft white wheat flour in the freezer while you work on whipping the butter just to cool the flour down a bit.
To the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and whip with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom intermittently. You want the butter mixture to be shiny and fluffy and white. This is an important step, don’t skip it.
​Once the butter mixture is whipped, add in extracts and egg and mix well. Scrape the bowl.
Add in the dry ingredients: 3 cups of fresh-milled flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix slowly. Once incorporated, allow the dough to mix for about 1 minute longer. If it appears sticky and is not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add more flour in a spoonful at a time until it does. It should be a cohesive ball that is just a little tacky but is not sticking to the sides of the bowl.
Step 2: Rest the Dough
This is a good idea to do when working with freshly-milled flour, but not a make or break, but I do like to rest the cookie dough for about 15 minutes just to allow the fresh milled flour to rehydrate. I’ve found the finished product turns out better if I do this. While it rests I get my baking sheets lined with parchment, find the cookie cutters, set out my cooling racks, and locate my rolling pin.
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Step 3: Roll Out
Split the dough into thirds.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface (using the remaining soft white wheat). I keep this dough on the thicker side at about 1/4″.
Cut out cookie shapes and arrange on your cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Re-roll out scraps until you’ve used all the dough.
Step 3: Â Bake
Bake at 350F for about 7 minutes for a nice chewy texture and a softer cookie. Cookies will appear puffy and barely browned around the edges. Don’t overbake or they get the texture of sand, we want soft cookies! :D Obviously, baking time will very between ovens.
Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet just enough until they’re firm enough to transfer to cooling racks.
Cool completely, then slather with buttercream and eat 12. Store in an airtight container for a few days or freeze in a freezer-safe bag for longer storage life!
And now you have fresh milled flour cut out cookies for Christmas Day… or whenever you need cookies. THEY’RE HEALTHY and on a whole new level of flavaaaaa!
​Notes:
You can replace the fresh milled flour with all purpose flour and do just fine, but you’ll have quite sad, flavorless cookies without all the wheat parts! For best results, mill your own fresh flour.
You can add whatever extracts you want to these cookies. I hate almond extract so that’s a no-go in my house because ew and no, but if it’s your thing do it. I use elderflower because I LOVE the flavor!
Don’t you dare use unsalted butter in this recipe, or any recipe for that matter. Salt is life!
Enjoy your healthy whole wheat cookies!
Equipment
- stand mixer
- Baking Sheets
- parchment paper
- Cookie Cutters
- Cooling Racks
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature
- 1 cup raw unrefined sugar or white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon elderflower extract
- 1 egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/2 cups fresh milled soft white wheat divided
Instructions
- Measure out 2 1/3 cup of soft white wheat berries and mill through a fine, pastry setting.
- Place container of soft white wheat flour in the freezer while you work on whipping the butter just to cool the flour down a bit.
- To the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and whip with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom intermittently. You want the butter mixture to be shiny and fluffy and white. This is an important step, don’t skip it.
- Once the butter mixture is whipped, add in extracts and egg and mix well. Scrape the bowl.
- Add in the dry ingredients: 3 cups of fresh-milled flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix slowly. Once incorporated, allow the dough to mix for about 1 minute longer. If it appears sticky and is not pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add more flour in a spoonful at a time until it does. It should be a cohesive ball that is just a little tacky but is not sticking to the sides of the bowl.
- This is a good idea to do when working with freshly-milled flour, but not a make or break, but I do like to rest the cookie dough for about 15 minutes just to allow the fresh milled flour to rehydrate. I’ve found the finished product turns out better if I do this. While it rests I get my baking sheets lined with parchment, find the cookie cutters, set out my cooling racks, and locate my rolling pin.
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Split the dough into thirds. Roll the dough out on a floured surface (using the remaining soft white wheat). I keep this dough on the thicker side at about 1/4″.
- Cut out cookie shapes and arrange on your cookie sheet lined with parchment.
- Re-roll out scraps until you’ve used all the dough.
- Bake at 350F for about 7 minutes for a nice chewy texture and a softer cookie. Cookies will appear puffy and barely browned around the edges. Don’t overbake or they get the texture of sand, we want soft cookies! :D Obviously, baking time will very between ovens.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet just enough until they’re firm enough to transfer to cooling racks.
- Cool completely, then slather with buttercream and eat 12. Store in an airtight container for a few days or freeze in a freezer-safe bag for longer storage life!
